Bolier Gas Consumption

maklabouhlel · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:29

I have to leave a house unoccupied for 6 months but going to leave the gas central heating on. I don't know whether to leave it at 18 or 21 C. If the outside temp is 5 C and either target temp is reached, would there be any difference in energy consumption set at 18 vs 21 C?

krooton · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:30

You should just leave frost protection on, what you propose would cost loads.

Puzzled · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:30

Seems a bit high, most holiday modes on thermostats are around 12 to 15c I think.

Depends how well insulated the house is but both will be pretty expensive.

Dis86 · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:32

Lol what?! Why would you leave an empty house at 21c for 6 months?

maklabouhlel · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:36

Dis86 said:
Lol what?! Why would you leave an empty house at 21c for 6 months?

It's my brother's house and he works in Qatar. He's asked me to leave the heating on over the autumn/winter at 21 C. I thought it was overkill, hence the question. I'm just taking orders.

Dis86 · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:40

maklabouhlel said:
It's my brother's house and he works in Qatar. He's asked me to leave the heating on over the autumn/winter at 21 C. I thought it was overkill, hence the question. I'm just taking orders.

Tell your brother he's stupid. Set it to frost protection mode. It's in the name.

Kainz · 2 Dec 2019 at 18:46

Frost protection is all that is needed. He is just throwing money away and wasting energy and his wallet.

the shadow · 2 Dec 2019 at 19:11

maklabouhlel said:
I have to leave a house unoccupied for 6 months but going to leave the gas central heating on. I don't know whether to leave it at 18 or 21 C. If the outside temp is 5 C and either target temp is reached, would there be any difference in energy consumption set at 18 vs 21 C?

JunkBot · 2 Dec 2019 at 19:30

Or if it must be on, timer for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening?

TJM · 2 Dec 2019 at 19:41

Tell your brother that the planet is dying and you can't have any part in his demented scheme to keep an uninhabited building at a comfortable temperature for someone in a t-shirt.

Diagro · 2 Dec 2019 at 19:47

Any smart meter? Set up a schedule.

Or

Set to 10c

jsmoke · 2 Dec 2019 at 19:51

The last thing you want is a burst pipe as I'm sure the know, the potential damage can be devastating.

Feek · 2 Dec 2019 at 20:07

maklabouhlel said:
He's asked me to leave the heating on over the autumn/winter at 21 C
I'm just taking orders.

maklabouhlel said:
I don't know whether to leave it at 18 or 21 C

If you were just taking orders, you'd set it to 21C and walk away. The fact that you're questioning this is good.

Personally, I think I'd set it to 10 or 12C rather than just frost protection mode.

maklabouhlel · 2 Dec 2019 at 20:51

I think there's a myth, especially in Asian culture, that a cold house is more prone to problems like dampness etc.

The_One · 2 Dec 2019 at 22:02

Leave on frost protection and if its empty i'd be turning the stopcock off too

eviled · 2 Dec 2019 at 22:35

Heat loss is logarithmic to temperature, so the large the temperature difference the quicker you lose heat so when it’s 21 inside and 0 outside you’ll lose heat quicker than if it’s 17 inside and 0 outside.

bottom line - leave it on 10 degrees or put your brother in touch with all the obese people on here who have aircon for the one hot day as year

Dis86 · 2 Dec 2019 at 22:50

maklabouhlel said:
I think there's a myth, especially in Asian culture, that a cold house is more prone to problems like dampness etc.

Where's the moisture going to come from if the house is weather-tight and doesn't have any available water sources inside? Air at any temperature will only hold so much vapour - not enough to cause damp when it cools from ~20 to ~5 degrees.

Werewolf · 3 Dec 2019 at 00:27

JunkBot said:
Or if it must be on, timer for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening?

Frost protection, set to come on as needed 24/7.

If you put it on the frost setting all day you don't have it coming on when not needed (IE warmer days), and you don't have the house getting cold enough to be an issue because you've set it to come on at 6am for an hour, and it's cooled down to freezing since 7pm the night before.

Ideally you still want to be checking in on the property every week or so just in case something happens.